It is over! The longest road trip in Edmonton Oilers history. Crazy! To be honest, in this shortened season, a long road trip like that isn't fair for one team to have to go on. Spending that much time in a row on the road really puts strain on the players. Flying from city to city, moving from one hotel to the next sounds sexy but it isn't. Ask anyone who travels a lot for work. It is tiring.

I firmly believe the Oilers are one of the more tired teams in the NHL. The challenge for the coaching staff is to find extra rest time for this team while continuing to develop team concepts. Not an easy balancing act.

The good news is the team is still within striking distance of a playoff spot. The standings change every night but with over twenty games left in the season, the Oilers still control their own fate. Not a bad position to be in.

They now have a four game home stand. The Wings, Predators, Sharks and Blues roll into town over the next ten days. Wins are required. Clean wins and not overtime wins. When you are in the back of the playoff field, three point games are killers.

The first game at home after a long road trip always seems to be a challenge. I would say this last road trip qualifies as one! Why does it seem that first home game is so hard to play?

Million dollar question....with no perfect answer!!!!

I had coaches who would run a very tough practice when the team would first get on the ice at home. They thought it would burn out the road legs and get us focused on the game to come at home. High tempo and lots of energy in practice could lead to the same in the game the next day.

Other coaches of mine would really take it easy on the guys. A very relaxed and short practice. These coaches thought rest was the key. The road does take more out of you then home games.

I can't say that one approach worked better than the other. Either way that first game back always seemed to get off to a slow start.

I think that players get distracted when they get home after a week road trip or longer. Tons of catching up to do with their wives or girlfriends and kids. The details of life need to be taken care of as well. I always found it took a couple days to get past all of this.

The Oilers do not have the option of laying an egg on Friday against the Red Wings. They need every point they can get. This will be a battle of the mind. If they can engage their minds into this game and park the distractions they could have success.

The Oilers need to take care of every little detail on the ice. The ones off the ice will still be there Saturday morning, the two points will not be.

Sticking together

On this road trip I noticed a trend that is concerning. Too often I saw an Oiler player alone in a scrum (even though there were not that many). I can think of two times when Taylor Hall was all by himself, surrounded by the other team.

Close teams stick together. Where there is one there is five. This could be chalked up to a lack of gamesmanship from the younger players or the lack of will to do so by the other guys. Either way it is a real sign of team unity.

Think back to the Chicago game, Hall got into it with Shaw and a couple other Hawks. Who was the first guy to go in there with Hall? Horcoff. He is a guy that gets it. More Oilers need to understand the statement that is made when any of your team mates is left on an island because of a lack of support.

This isn't a huge issue but it does speak to the unity and growth of this team.

#FreeJakeGardiner

Did anyone else see this tweet by Jake Gardiner's agent, Ben Hankinson? What in the world was this guy thinking?

Jake Gardiner has been playing this year mostly in the AHL after a solid rookie NHL season last year. Obviously Hankinson feels he should be playing in the NHL this season. Many people would agree with that. Right now, the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Randy Carlyle does not. That is a coaches right, especially when the team is having success.

Agents go to battle for their clients all the time. Most often it is done in private with a general manager or even a coach. At times they will use the media to get a message out to support their client. To use twitter in this fashion is inexplicable and inexcusable.

Hankinson represents Gardiner. He should have his best interest front and centre in his mind every time he does something. Sending out this tweet was a big mistake.

It hard enough for a young player to make the NHL and to deal with all the attention that comes with it, especially in a Canadian market like Toronto. This tweet just added another layer on to what Gardiner needs to deal with.

If my agent had done this, I would have fired him as soon as I saw it. Yes, people make mistakes but he should have known better. If I was another client of an agent that did this, I would have probably had the same reaction, to drop the hammer on him.

The player involved, and the coaches of both the Leafs and Marlies dealt with questions from the media. Where was the person who sent the tweet? Nobody could get a hold of him. He should have been front and center talking about this and how it was an error in judgment.

As I said everyone makes mistakes but for me there are no second chances with this one.

Jason hosts the Jason Strudwick show from 9pm to 12am, weeknights on the team 1260. He is an instructor at Mount Carmel Hockey Academy and loves working with the kids. Having played over 650 games in the NHL, Jason has some great stories and unique takes on life in the NHL. He loves Slurpees and Blizzards. Dislikes baggy clothes and close talkers.

No one ever talks about the obvious reason for a team to sag after a long road trip.......especially the married guys.

Yea catching up with the wife,( according to medical professionals of course) has it's impacts.......let's just call them wobbly legs. As far as the young guys go......well they never stop, partner or no partner.

Am I out to lunch here?

Ha Ha Rama Lama... With the best looking wives money can buy waiting for them it's a wonder they can walk! As for the young guys... when Rory McIlroy injured his wrist and had to withdraw from a tournament, Feherty - on TV - said "Ahh there's nothing to worry about! He's 21, and the right wrist of a 21 year old is the strongest muscle in his body!"
Hope the boys extra day off will allow them to recover...

If I remember correctly I think Krueger sent Brown out with Hall on the next shift following one of those scrums. Pretty sure he gets it. Hopefully message was sent for the rest of team to smarten up in future altercations. We will have to wait and see.

You are 100% correct. That was a game day rule when I played, afternoon delight (or morning for that matter) was a big no no. The night before never seemed to affect the legs though. I played with guys however that swore they played better, probably depends on the player, but you definitely are on to something.

When did you find the time to nail the girl at the end of the pinwheel at Ice Stravaganza, Ogie?

Jason, I totally agree with your comments about Hall and the lack of team support. In the Avalanche game it happened twice. Hall was surrounded by 4 Avalanche players and was all alone until both times it was Horcoff who came in and supported Hall. Say what you want about Horcs, but there are certain things that he gets that other players don't.

The only thing I disagree with you on is that you just noticed this trend. It's been happening all year. Guys are taking good runs at our players and nothing gets done about it. It was great to see Fistric stick up for Nuge a few games back, but we need more of that. There is nothing like having a team member come to your aid, and I believe it's contagious. We need to see it happen more often and by more players.

Agreed. Hall plays with an edge and emotion. Obviously there is a gap between him and rest of the guys. Hockey is war not ballet. If you are not emotionally invested and angry, you will be burned. That's what I see in many games. There's no anger and urgency in many players.

No one ever talks about the obvious reason for a team to sag after a long road trip.......especially the married guys.

Yea catching up with the wife,( according to medical professionals of course) has it's impacts.......let's just call them wobbly legs. As far as the young guys go......well they never stop, partner or no partner.

I understood the agents tweet came after the jets had thumped the big club 5-2 and lets go blue jays chants were raining down in MTS.

Personally... at 335 am (assuming that means something on a tweet).... im a pretty funny guy as well. Full and funny.
Perhaps the mere fact that its even newsworthy at all is an inditement on what passes for topics worthy of discussion, then again T dot O and all that,,,, centre of the universe and such. One must carry ones torch after all.

I understood the agents tweet came after the jets had thumped the big club 5-2 and lets go blue jays chants were raining down in MTS.

Personally... at 335 am (assuming that means something on a tweet).... im a pretty funny guy as well. Full and funny.
Perhaps the mere fact that its even newsworthy at all is an inditement on what passes for topics worthy of discussion, then again T dot O and all that,,,, centre of the universe and such. One must carry ones torch after all.

Probably just finishing up an endorsement deal with Molsons at that hour. Heard he also held interviews at the local strip club for a new personal assistant earlier that evening.

Yet another good insiders perspective. I wonder if the first game back, everyone is just so relieved to be home and happy to not be playing in a different barn, they kind of forget about the effort required to win.

Speaking of the effort required to win, I am really hoping with Horcoff back Edmonton doesn't get dominated in the puck possession battle against Detroit.

@ Jason Strudwick I said watching the game that when Hall tried to poke that puck out of the goalie's hand and the rest of the team went after him, perhaps the Dmen should have come in from the point to stick up for him. What is your thought on that? I'm not sure what the rule is... I believe the face off goes back to your end if they do?

Jason, I totally agree with your comments about Hall and the lack of team support. In the Avalanche game it happened twice. Hall was surrounded by 4 Avalanche players and was all alone until both times it was Horcoff who came in and supported Hall. Say what you want about Horcs, but there are certain things that he gets that other players don't.

The only thing I disagree with you on is that you just noticed this trend. It's been happening all year. Guys are taking good runs at our players and nothing gets done about it. It was great to see Fistric stick up for Nuge a few games back, but we need more of that. There is nothing like having a team member come to your aid, and I believe it's contagious. We need to see it happen more often and by more players.

Rather indicative of where Eager has fallen in the leagues food chain. Kinda too bad. (for him). How much benefit for the Oilers organization does having Eager down in OKC provide? can he mentor pitlick or serve a positive capacity beyond taking up a roster spot for a kid that needs more game experience.

No one ever talks about the obvious reason for a team to sag after a long road trip.......especially the married guys.

Yea catching up with the wife,( according to medical professionals of course) has it's impacts.......let's just call them wobbly legs. As far as the young guys go......well they never stop, partner or no partner.

Am I out to lunch here?

You are 100% correct. That was a game day rule when I played, afternoon delight (or morning for that matter) was a big no no. The night before never seemed to affect the legs though. I played with guys however that swore they played better, probably depends on the player, but you definitely are on to something.

You are 100% correct. That was a game day rule when I played, afternoon delight (or morning for that matter) was a big no no. The night before never seemed to affect the legs though. I played with guys however that swore they played better, probably depends on the player, but you definitely are on to something.

But Kaptain Horcov has said numerous time that this is what helps him!!

@ Jason Strudwick I said watching the game that when Hall tried to poke that puck out of the goalie's hand and the rest of the team went after him, perhaps the Dmen should have come in from the point to stick up for him. What is your thought on that? I'm not sure what the rule is... I believe the face off goes back to your end if they do?

I'd like to see all skaters come to the aid of a guy in a scrum.

If we take the Pack mentality approach, maybe we dont need goons if you're always vs 5 oilers instead of 1.

If I remember correctly I think Krueger sent Brown out with Hall on the next shift following one of those scrums. Pretty sure he gets it. Hopefully message was sent for the rest of team to smarten up in future altercations. We will have to wait and see.

@Struds: Couldn't agree more with the notion of firing your agent for crap like that. I don't care what time of the day it was tweeted, the very next tweet should have been an apology.

Agents have to be certified by the league, which places responsibility on them to act accordingly when representing their client(s) in public forums such as social media, tv and press conferences. Maybe after a stunt like that, your certification should be reviewed?

The question that comes to mind is, "Does Gardiner's agent make substantially more money if his client plays in the NHL?"

The key to the Wings game is to show them respect
but not much, the wings are not to be feared where you
sit in awe and watch Pavel and Zetterberg, time for them
to respect you, get after it and show no fear and refuse to lose.
If Clagary and CBJ can do this, this is no reason at all the Oil
dont kick the Wings into next week. There way better teams out there
than the Wings. Respect your opponent but make them respect you MORE.

we need Steve Ott. He is the EXACT solution to all of these issues....he would make sure to break his stick blade into the mouth of any player who touched ebs, hall, yak or nuge...AND he is a pk and pp gem, a perfect mother who can play a grinding game. GET STEVE OTT! Buffalo is a mess right now, we can pry him loose

It seems like Brown has been doing good work. The guy knows he's not going to be on the ice at the same time as the kids, so he's gone out early and sent the message right away.

Yes, he's been good thus far. But I would like to see some retaliation from the Oilers. If we are playing Chicago and Hall gets run, we should hit thei stars back. I would also like to see the team react as a whole, not just one player

Glad to see Hallsy agitating. I agree that his teammates need to be backing him up.

I'd also like to see Hall initiate body contact, like Forsberg used to do when going into the corner. Hall has a big frame and could destroy a few guys going into the corner. I'm sick of watching him reach to get in first only to get popped onto his ass.

Honey Badger def -A Honey badger is one fearless mother %er! He is the ultimate badass of the animal kingdom. No one knows what they look like as anyone who's ever seen one has been immediately killed by said badger. They wouldn't think twice about starting some %@ and are actually totally fearless, when they kill something (usually 100+ kills a day) they crack open their victims skull with their teeth and eat their brain and digest their thoughts. This makes the Honey Badger the world's most intelligent and ruthless mother #@%&* out there. They will also sleep with and impregnate your sister while she sleeps.

@ Jason Strudwick I said watching the game that when Hall tried to poke that puck out of the goalie's hand and the rest of the team went after him, perhaps the Dmen should have come in from the point to stick up for him. What is your thought on that? I'm not sure what the rule is... I believe the face off goes back to your end if they do?

GOod question. If the dman come in the faceoff is moved out of the zone.

@Struds: Couldn't agree more with the notion of firing your agent for crap like that. I don't care what time of the day it was tweeted, the very next tweet should have been an apology.

Agents have to be certified by the league, which places responsibility on them to act accordingly when representing their client(s) in public forums such as social media, tv and press conferences. Maybe after a stunt like that, your certification should be reviewed?

The question that comes to mind is, "Does Gardiner's agent make substantially more money if his client plays in the NHL?"

Yes he would if Gardiner is on a two way. Most agents make somewhere around 3% of a players salary.

Having worked away from home for over ten years I can relate to the adjustments and the challenges that the frequent travel and change of environment present. However these things can be countered through micro-managment of our psysiological reflexes, you first need to identify your personal comfort baseline and then key on the redflags that represent a deviation from this baseline, then you need to create an artificial and tacticlly structured micro-dynamic that maintains itself through both your travel schedule and environment and your home schedule and environment. A simple example is a cup of tea at 5pm at home every night and on the road make sure you take a break and stop what you are doing to have a cup of tea at 5pm and adjust for the timezones to keep it at your home timezone 5pm. It worked for me, different keys than a cup of tea and more than one but the principal works, its integrated into the NewAge Hockey Systems core values, its really a balance issure, a consistancy of psyiological inputs and their timing issue. The same core consistancy values we need to see on the ice we need to see off the ice hence the attention to this dynamic within the NHS.

This Intuative Dynamic micro-managment must run right through the teams entire spectrum of organisational structure. The transition to this managment perspective must be as seamless as possible, and this means that the onice practices and all dynamic precursors or inputs are tacticlly managed with the same core value focus. This desired consistancy of application cannot be achieved through conventional application of a 1-D or a 2-D perspectives, hence the need for focused Intuative Dynamic input or a 3-d perspective. Balance is the key objective, route or methodology are flexible ,the result desired are not flexible.

I agree we are lacking team focus in the on-ice projection of team toughness.

We need to remind the men of the difference between being ,dirty, nasty, tough and territorial.

Dirty - means you will liberally and gleefully break all and any rules at any given moment with total disregard for the consequences of your actions upon your opponents health, you willingly target any and all vulnerabilitys and actually create dangerous and potentially injurious dynamics to trap your opponents in. You may not be a penalty magnet that hurts your team with regularity, you may simply snap once a season or so but when you do people get hurt.

Nasty - means you play by the rules enough that you never lose control of the dynamic managment of your game, you will break rules but not to the detriment of the team, they will be penaltys taken to defend territory or a dynamic. When you go into corners or open ice areas where you might be set up for a career threatening highlight reel hit or dirty play you make sure you dont get caught in the trap even if it means being the first one to throw and elbow to the chops so you dont get victimised, you are to important to let yourself get chopped down because you have territory to protect nd your main mandate is to not lose tactical territorial position at all costs including pain and punishment to the opponent first and fastest in defence of your objective. If you see a man in your territory you will smash them to the ice before you block a shot because you will be on them before they can shoot based on area and territory you own. And it will likely be a cross-check to the arm that stops you from shooting so you dont violate that area again.

Tough - means you stick to the rules tightly and will absorb tremendous punishment to execute the system, you will eat the elbow or the crosscheck before you will take a chance on a penalty by hurting the opponent first by breakig a rule, you block shots because you keep your sphere of influence to the outside out of a respect for the rulebook. Because of the willingness to self-scarifice you play injured a lot of the time.

Territorial - means you are a yarddog who will not just bark and chase but will bite any and everyone who enters your backyard on defense, or your wheelhouse on offense. It is a focused and driven intention of owning and protecting the area encompassed by the sphere of influence you project on the ice as an indiviadula and a line seamlessly. This is the type of player who when they see you standing in a prime shooting area makes you hurt badly somehow and never once ignores you or lets you be there comfortably, the intentions arent to remove you from the play but to punish you for even being close to an area that could hurt our system. A territorial player never loses body position because that is the key to their focus, they own the ice and you never ever move them out of prime position without getting hurt trying to do so. If you happen to be in our area or the area of one of our TEAMMATES we react instinctively as if you were in our backyard spitting on our barbeque. None of our teammates ever get outnumbered because wherever they are is our territory and will be defended as such with the projection of pain and punishment first with sticks and elbows followed in natural and clearly telegraphed order by fists in an aggressive manner striking first allowing the opposition two chances to buckle and back away and then hammering them to the ice if they dont comply to the dynamic pressure we exert. When players subscribe to a territorial mindset they become champions. This is the "team toughness" we are looking for and we dont need to fly players in here to achieve this dynamic result, we just need to choose a personality to project as a team and stick to it consistantly long enough for the NHL to recognise it and accept it. This is no easy task but is critical.

If you watch old Dynsty Oilers clips and look for the dynamic playaction sequences you will see the Oilers useing a nice territorial team-mindset in perfect dynamic sequences, a player will instigate a dynamic in the o-zone around the net and then when the opponent reacts our man will turn the other cheek for a second often drawing a penalty and then within a half-second a second Oiler always comes flying in with bad intent in a territorial manner and targeting the guy disrespecting our man and system execution and the man turning the other cheek is supported via secondary retaliation he is SURE is coming-- this lets all mindsets be able to turn the other cheek at the right time--, this creates a nice dynamic where the refs see us hit the opponent and cause a marginal disturbance, then they see the opponent REACT to us and already have their fingers on the whistle usually calling a retaliation penalty by proxy, but the key is the second and third Oilers coming in with nasty defensive territorial intent in support of their teammate and that ice area he is in, they get free shots because when everyone collapses at once the refs cant possible keep track of transgressions and even if they do they will instinctively balance them out team wise, so really the team knew that this dynamic sequence of playactions was beneficial to their system and to winning. They also did this effectively in the defensive zone with even more ferocity, watch what happened to guys even NEAR our crease or scoring areas. We played pretty claen with the playaction but if you dared try stopping or cruising through our tender spots you suffered DOOM.

Because our team personality was recognised leaguewide by both opponents and refs as being territorial and not dirty or nasty or tough, we presented a consistant dynamic that they could read and react to, we had momentum on our side.

The Oilers proper managment of these dynamic situations using Intuative Dynamic Analysis meant that they always ended up on the winning side of the DYNAMIC results on a micro-level throughout 60 mins and this consistancy of execution of dynamic situational managment happens to be a key part of creating the winning formula champions weild like Excaliber.

The territorial defense of the system includes the constellation of situational dynamics that many coaches and teams waste time energy and resources trying to manage within 60 min games. Territorial mindsets use the individuals sphere of influence as a system asset and seamlessly blend the projected force of all 6 men on the ice executing our system.

If we choose to become a territorial team and can find the resources to identify and manage this identity and its proper projection and execution we may take another step in our evolution towards becoming a winning team.

But as usual the Oilers are light years behind the curve in terms of Intuative Dynamic Analysis and its application, they lack the raw talent, the real Intuition part of the equation, they have already bought analytics talent albeit the wrong type--statistical-.

You arent bringing in any average NHL minset to provide this not even with 25 yrs hockey experience, in fact there are maybe 5 or 10 tops men playing in the NHL that posess this INTUATIVE ability, its not common although it is naturally occurring and you need to mine for it and find it wherever it may be, but first you need to know what the nuggets look like--start by looking for great controversy and great action because new things always create this situational set of dynamics.

Its really nice to track the Oilers dynamic adjustments onice and see how they react as opposed to the speculative data posted online and available in realtime, but the fact is that they need to fill an organisational void with a results based formula ASAP, and the baby steps they are taking can be skipped if they find and apply a valid source of Intuative Dynamic Analysis.

Ralph Krueger instituted some advanced tactics into his system managment gameplan this year, well intended ones, good ones, that he was forced to adjust recently and that is ok, he needed to do so, because he needed to understand the parameters of the system he is useing and by trying to institute dynamic core values into his system that were superior, foreign, and new then seeing how they DIDNT fit he has taken great strides in his operational learning curve. Ralph has tried to institute levels of Intuative Dynamic Analysis and managment into his perspective as have others on the Oilers but there is no cohesion or balance.There has been proactive positive changes but its in baby steps and with no regularity and spotty consistancy like they are recieving messages by Morse Code and there is a big timelag in the sending and recieving and there are gaps in the sequential tactical managment historys.

There is only one shortcut to sucess and it involves more work than is conventional so the term shortcut refers only to degree of time elapsed during the ascension to the elite level--NOT to degree of effort expeneded because that is higher than normal. That shortcut is through the possesion and application of Intuative Dynamic Analysis, there is no other way,not money and not love baby,either you pay your dues in a conventional way over a conventional timeperiod or you find ways to "work harder" to pay those dues in a condensed shortened timespan, this means you need to utilise UNCONVENTIONAL thinking no matter what competative dynamic you are part of, the peripheral constellation of influences integral to that dynamic are your tools to utilise as fast as you can read and react to them.

Its like being on the ice Jason and watching a special player out there being three steps ahead of everyone, not one and not two steps but THREE clear steps ahead of the play just seemingly waiting for things to unfold smoothly going from spot to spot playing tag with the dymanic evolution of the playaction. I have only seen a handfull of players over many years who can do this consistantly and you must have felt that love out on the ice, ha ha ha, what a rush to be able to learn from players like that. That is why I based the NHS off of Intuative Dynamic Analysis, to enable players to keep 3 steps ahead of the dynamic playaction by simply staying within the scope of system execution, without having to exert all the energy and effort players in the past had to exert to achieve these levels of winning execution and results with consistancy.

The simple fact that you are obsessed with the proper projection of your personal sphere of influence via stick managment and position gives me an accurate and immediate catalyst to do an Intuative Dynamic Analysis of your skills and ablilitys. Were you to be faster natural evolution would have made you slightly less cognisant of the influences of your stick positioning in terms of projecting your personal sphere of influence - you would lean towards managing your sphere of influence utilising speed as your primary catalyst, and as a coach I would need to know this. Were you more positionally sound the same rules of balance would apply, you would need to use your assets differently to support this projection of your sphere of influence and you would manage your stick in a specific way to support this perspective with slightly less focus than you carry, your stick managment philosophy tells me that you were a mover who viewed the ice in quadrants or specific areas who managed his sphere of influence in traditional levels of degree, in a traditional sequential pattern, you were more concerned with the managing the playaction of the puck and maintaining positional integrity in equal and balanced volumes in these quadrants than you were with catalysing plays beyond those quadrants- safety first- , this speaks volumes to mobility and tactical focus, I would have defined your style and attacked it based on this assesment, I would have dangled the puck to you and moved you slightly within your quadrant until you reached a self-imposed border you thought was invisible to me and then I would have kept the puck at the edge of your sphere of influence and exploded into you in that transitional area as best I could looking for the good hit recovery bounceoff-- I would have negated your stick influences by picking a perfect moment to close on youi just as you were extended to the max with your stick on the edge of your comfort zone. This is how I would coach my players to engage you on the ice.

Your mindset is exactly the mindset we need now from all of our d-men save one who we need to be totally offensive.Your game had an excellent awareness of your sphere of influence and its managment{better than good gapping} and also a corresponding strong level of territorialsim or "toughness"to it when I watched you and this was directly related to how you managed your stick and body position on the ice and how you projected your influences physically. we need this with an extra dose of nasty. I believe this balance created through very good personal managment tactics was a key factor in your long and sucessfull NHL career, you evolved your game to maintain your effectiveness and defined a role for yourself through the proper managment of dynamic situations no matter where you were playing and no matter what the system. You developed a sucessfull NHL gameplan that allowed you to produce sucessfull results.

We need this awareness of our spheres of influence and we need to properly identify and manage each players indiviadual sphere of influence and help them develop their own understanding of this dynamic managment core value and how it interacts with the system so they can learn to adjust themselves. Some will have evolved to manage theirs with speed, some with positioning, some with stick managment some with a nice balance, but everyone will be slightly different and will need to be identified and tacticlly micro-managed. This is how you manifest chemistry and properly set your lines through the proactive use of Intuative Dynamic Analysis. This is exactly what Ralph is now finally trying to accomplish with a definitive degree of focus.

I believe that the coaches need a better understanding of how to manage the situational dynamics associated with projecting a "territorial" personality with this team, its all about balance- give and take - like i said earlier its like we are suffering disconnects from our optimal perspective on a regular but intermittant basis,its like irregular breathing and you can imagine where we end up if we do an Intuative Dynamic Analysis of the hows and whys of this reality. We come to the source of both the positive changes AND the source of the disconnect, because they are catalysing from the same place and its a place the Oilers can exert no influences over and this is why the disconnect exists in the first place. Had they the power to manifest consistancy they would have done so already and would be monopolising the source of data influencing the positive changes. It makes you wonder where they are expending all of their energy now doesnt it?

The Oilers have been getting irregular bursts of Intuative Dynamic influences within their operational perspectives, both on and off the ice. These influences are definable and documentable through the utilisation of Intuative Dynamic Analysis when assesing their performances and results, right down to the games and tactical situational applications. There sucess can be tracked as accurately as their failure and diagnosed with equal accuracy.

There is a "more" RIGHT and a "more" WRONG way to do everything and there is only one formula for defining the two in a realtime on-the-fly manner, and this is through the possesion and application of Intuative Dynamic Analysis ability, something which CAN be taught to anyone and the results are immediate overwhelming and definable . This Intuative perspective runs counter to the types of Anayltical resources we are seeing used by NHL teams, these teams are currently utilising statistical analytical resources that are now riding a wave or popularity they are a fad that the internet has brought us, one that allows the fans another easily quantifiable way to see the game, its a hell of a lot easier to represent the game via numbers and relate to fans than it is to represent it through dynamic sequences or actions. This is why so few elite players ever professionally coach, they are born with the 3-D perspective that makes them elite and cannot even put what it is into words for you.

Statistical analysis is the path of least resistance and that puts you on the ground with the least resistance, ha ha ha. This is the LAST influence you want running rampant in your organisational operations.

Statistics and structure and success are very very different things and are NOT symbiotic, and statisticians and their salesmen would have you believe they are one and the same when the opposite couldnt be more true. You can only remove one of those three dynamic influences and still produce a winning result, and its easy to see that the odd man out that can be removed without preventing a winning dynamic from happening is the statistical influence.

Stats are a diagnostic tool not a core value factor. But we are seeing them creep into organisational dynamics and they are destroying our teams balance and ability to produce winning results by giving the coaches and managment to many false positives in their feedback data. False-positives on every level in every area making the organisation run in seeming circles wasteing energy and resources and time. The sooner we identify that getting away from the statistical influences makes the system feel and function healthier the sooner we will become a winning team. Thank god its an easy fix, just track down every single statistical influence and SHUT IT OFF ASAP. Then utilse stats in a more traditional manner that falls within their functional value parameters, on an as needed basis as diagnostic tools to quantify and asses specific system specific results that our players produce playing "only within our system" as we define it.

If the Oilers need a source of Intuative Dynamic Analysis , which it sure seems they do, then maybe they need to get out there and look for one the old fashioned way by using the grapevine, put their ears to the ground and listen to what they can hear, look for the action and controversy ,thats where you will find the cure. Then to seal the deal the Oilers need to put their misplaced organisational pride which has already caused them to lose so many valuable resources aside and hit the problem with their wallet as hard as they can. Corner the market on the purest source and if they can to deny the competition access.

No one ever talks about the obvious reason for a team to sag after a long road trip.......especially the married guys.

Yea catching up with the wife,( according to medical professionals of course) has it's impacts.......let's just call them wobbly legs. As far as the young guys go......well they never stop, partner or no partner.

Am I out to lunch here?

Actually there have been studies that show the exact opposite. Sex before a major athletic event can actually improve performance.